The girls and I headed south about 6:30 AM, and after a half hour breakfast stop at Perkins, we were on our way.
Arrived at the Expomart at 10:00 AM on the nose!
We walked in and got a lay of the land, and then begun our assault!
I noticed Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers) sitting at his booth, and I had to look a few times before I realized it was him. Chatted with some people I know from the con, and the girls and I checked out what was billed as the "Evil Dead Museum." It was a very small glass case with some Necromicon books and pages, a hand and two eyeballs, some little demon guys, and assorted face apliques and junk. Nothing really worthy of being called a museum. Just a display of crap seemed to fit it better. But Paige thought that it was cool seeing the books (she's only seen Army of Darkness, but the book/pages are the same).
We then headed to Tom Savini's booth. This is who Paige really wanted to meet, as she loves his work (and cameo) in the Twisted Sister/Alice Cooper "Be Chrool To Your Scool" music video (she's not quite old enough to experience Tom's more famous work!). She was speechless, and Tom started talking to her and got her chatting. He signed a cool print of nine panels from his appearance on the Simpson's (titled "Worst Episode Ever") to the girls, and posed for a picture with them. Paige was thrilled, even tho' she doesn't look it in the pic!
After that I went to see Chris Yambar and George Broderick. Both have been friends of mine then Paige and Beth bought some Bart Simpson's books that Chris wrote, and we chatted for a bit. Even tho' Chris's Harvey Awards "speech" this year came off bad, he's really a great guy (George too!).
We then wandered around and stopped by Ron Frenz's table to get some stuffed signed. I paid $30 for him to do a drawing in my first sketchbook (usually I get them on backboards for framing). He did a terrific Spider-Girl!!!
We chatted for awhile, and then I went a table over to talk to Dan Fraga. I hadn't seen him in awhile, and we talked and got caught up. Fraga's a trip and a half, and we reminiced of the last time we were together, drunk and playing blackjack at the Charity Auction. He signed a bunch of books for me, and did a great Cherry Poptart sketch for me in my book later on. No matter what you may feel of his art, or his getting started with Liefeld, Dan is another great guy in the industry! He also said he's going to try and make the April show.
We then hit a few other guys for signatures, like Mike Kaluta (no original artwork on his table for less than $3000!!! One was $12,000!!!!!!!), Don Simpson (I love his Megaton Man stuff!!!), and the Strumhaus guys (I bought a Reverie too!). Also Paige and Beth blew a ton of cash on stuff, from comics, to patches, to hats... to you name it! Throughout the day they were getting stuff (Paige had $40 left from her birthday, and Beth got her birthday money early). Then we saw Scott Crawford and his crew, who hit the circuit in their superhero costumes. Paige wanted her pic with Spidey and Norman Osborn (as the guy didn't have the mask on yet) but Beth just didn't want to go near them.
Then we saw two guys dressed as Ghostbusters. The packs, when turned on, sounded EXACTLY like in the movie, and the stuff looked so real and from the movie, you would swear it would all actually work. And being my girls have just about wore out the DVD, they had to get their picture with them. The two guys were sooooo cool, and you could tell they were Ghostbuster fans, and they loved the kids wanting to see them.
We then wandered some more, and I went to talk to Buzz, who is another truly talented and fun-loving guys! He sold me two pages from his 1996 "Horseman" book for $10!!!!!
We talked for a long time, and he chatted it up with the girls.
After that, I bought some books (including the Horseman books that the art was from, as my copies had been lost to the winds somewhere!), and we then headed to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's Quick Sketch.
There was Russ' good friend Charles Brownstein. I bought my tickets, and the girls and I sat down to watch Chuck "CD" Regan, Buzz, Ron Frenz, and Don Simpson churn out huge sketches and just have fun busting on each other. Don asked what to draw at one point, and Paige yelled "SpongeBob" and Beth yelled "Spider-Man!" So Don did a great Sponge Bob Spidey Pants drawing, that unfortunately we didn't win. In case you don't know, they draw as much as they can/want in 45 minutes, and the people buy chances for $1 each, and they then draw the tickets. Whoever has the ticket, wins the art, and the money goes to the CBLDF. Here's a shot at some of the art up for grabs. **Of note is an extreme close-up of Vampirella by Buzz (top of the first pic) and the Sponge-Spidey of Don's (colored even!)...
When the artist were done, they started drawing tickets. Buzz walks over and takes his tickets, divides them up, and gives half to Beth and half to Paige. They were ESTATIC!!! And Buzz had the biggest smile!!! Well, it turned out that I won one sketch, and Paige and Beth each won two!!! To say they were even more happy is an understatement! After that, we went back to Buzz to thank him again, and for the girls to show him what they won. He was thrilled!!!
As we walked again, Scott Crawford had changed costumes, and finally Beth wanted her picture taken with him (he had his Beast costume on)!
We then went to Timothy Bradstreet's table, and I got some stuff signed, and we chatted for a bit (I had never met him before). He was a BIG man, and really cool, and he said he is going to ask to come back in April! I asked him if he did sketches, and he said sure! I asked how much, and he said "I do them for free, if I get to choose what I draw." I said that was fine with me, and handed him my book. This sketch takes up the entire page!!!
We then met up with Mike Wood of Space Monkey Comics and his gal, and chatted for a bit over lousy $3 hot-dogs and overpriced drinks. It was great seeing Mike again, and I regret not getting a pic with him (Sorry, but I just didn't think about it. ). We walked around again, bought some more stuff, and then Mike headed out.
Paige and Beth saw pictures of Leonard Lies from Dawn of the Dead at his table. They were scared a bit, because he is known from the movie as "Machete Head"...because Tom Savini buries a machette in the guys head! He talked to the girls for a bit, and even showed them the actual machete used...with the cut-out that fit over him, explaining how they did the scene and make-up. The girls were impressed.
We were going get going then, but I was waiting for Fraga to get done with my sketch (he was swamped for sketches!) so with only about half and hour left in the show, we see Tom Savini's School for Make-Up effects is finally emptying, so the girls wanted their faces done. You could get any type of make-up effect you wanted, and the price went up from there. Paige only wanted a gash on her cheek, and Beth decided on just a face-painting. Total price for both, $10.
It took about 20 minutes each, but they were worked on at the same time. The people doing them were great, and chatted with the girls, showed them what they were using, and how it was used in movies. Tom even wandered over and joked around with the girls. They then mentioned I promised them to stop at McDonalds, and I said we couldn't go in and sit down to eat, as they looked too scary...and they might think I beat Paige! Tom laughed and handed me a stack of flyers for his school and said "Here! If they start asking questions, just give them these! That'll explain everything!"
So we then headed out, and all the way home I heard of the days events over and over!!! They were both terrific for me, even though Beth was the most shy and quiet when meeting people. But to say they enjoyed themselves is a severe understatement!!!
All in all a good show! So who knows...maybe PittCon will be expanded to two shows a year from now on!!!
